Embodiments of the present invention relate to conveying relationship information among multiple objects through display structures and formatting.
Data visualization applications comprehend displaying multiple objects in meaningful formats in a multi-dimensional display, wherein the display structure itself may overtly or inherently convey information about data associated with the objects. For example, two-dimensional displays may take advantage of values of the two dimensions of the display to convey information through relation of objects displayed thereon to the two dimension values. For example, icons representing each of a plurality of businesses may be plotted on a two-dimensional scaled map display as a function of their addresses, current Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) or latitude and longitude coordinates, etc.
Programmable devices commonly generate and provide such displays to users through display screens, often in real-time or otherwise promptly in response to user query inputs. Such multi-dimensional display information may be useful in orienting a user to background information about the objects being displayed, for example enabling a user to interact with a programmable device displaying the information to refine the information conveyed and query for additional detail. For example, a map scale displayed on a portable device may overtly convey relative distances between each business or from a reference point such as a user's plotted location on the map (home address, current GPS coordinate, etc.). The displayed spacing may also inherently convey general proximity information uniquely to a user; for example, with respect to the same display a first user in an automobile may perceive a business relatively close due to a short drive time, while another pedestrian user may consider it inconveniently too far.
A wide variety of information may be conveyed with regard to such entity representations. In other examples network objects may be displayed on a network topology diagram which provides location and/or connectivity information visually to a user. Governmental entities displayed on a political map may provide a familiar backdrop that lets users instantly locate states or other entities of interest, and which may provide a useful context other general information conveyed as a function of the entity structure, for example using different color or shading keys for dynamically indicating majority choices for a party or candidate during tabulation of election results.